Running on fumes

Henry Payne and Richard Burr, The Detroit NewsCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Disclosing to voters what vehicle they drive is a rare opportunity for presidential candidates to show that their personal priorities are consistent with their public policies. We know they can talk the talk about global warming and fuel efficiency -- but do they practice what they preach?

"As Republicans, we need to speak out more on the environment," Huckabee told The Detroit News recently in defending his support for hiking federal fuel efficiency laws to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, up from 27.5 (22.7 for trucks) today. "Unless we do, we'll never get to energy independence."

When it comes to his own vehicle, however, the Baptist minister strays from his scripture. "Our main car is a 2007 Chevy Tahoe flex-fuel. Then my vehicle is a (1995) Chevrolet Silverado truck," he says, listing two of the biggest light trucks (averaging 16 m.p.g. and 12 m.p.g., respectively) on the planet.

"My wife drives a Lexus," he says unafraid to wave a foreign flag on Detroit soil. "My only claim to fame is that my daughter Meghan owns a Prius hybrid. That's our only testimony to reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

What do you drive yourself?

"I drive a Cadillac. I drive the ... what? (An aide tells him he has a 20 m.p.g. CTS sedan.) It's been a very good car."

Mitt Romney

Romney opposes the new 35 m.p.g. diktat because it would "help the foreign manufacturers and hurt us."

Romney, the son of a Detroit auto executive, displays no moral qualms about what he drives. He obviously likes cars and buys American. The Michigan native raves about his powerful 2005 Ford Mustang convertible and his practical big Chevy pickup. What does his wife drive? A Cadillac crossover vehicle.

True to his libertarian roots, Paul detests Washington meddling on mileage standards. The Texas congressman drives a Buick in Washington, a second-hand Lincoln car and Ford truck back home, and he keeps a 1979 Chevy Chevette for "sentimental reasons."

Rudy Giuliani

The former New York City mayor says he doesn't own a car: "I don't drive. I navigate," he told The Associated Press in May.

The Illinois senator assaulted Big Three automakers last May before the Detroit Economic Club: "While foreign competitors were investing in more fuel-efficient technology for their vehicle, American automakers were spending their time investing in bigger, faster cars. The auto industry is on a path that is unacceptable and unsustainable. And America must take action to make it right."

This finger-wagging came from a speaker who arrived in a Secret Service convoy of Chevy Suburbans (averages (12 m.p.g.). More embarrassing was the car in Obama's garage: A gas-guzzling, 340 horsepower Chrysler 300C. When his choice was exposed, he bought a more politically correct Ford Escape Hybrid SUV (averages 27 m.p.g.)

The Escape Hybrid is also the choice of Edwards, who was inconveniently caught driving a bigger sport-utility vehicle after he suggested in August that Americans sacrifice their SUVs. At least Edwards is loyal to his union worker base: His other vehicle is a Chrysler Pacifica (averages 18 m.p.g.).

The former first lady burnishes her green credentials by advocating a bigger increase in federal fuel economy standards -- to 55 m.p.g. by 2030. She complains that the "Model T got better gas mileage than your typical SUV does today" and that "I believe we need to increase our fuel efficiency in order to reduce global warming."

But Clinton is also on big-truck, Secret Service detail. The Clintons own a Mercury Mariner Hybrid, which gets 2 m.p.g. more than the 1908 Model T (averages 25 m.p.g.).